Eliane Elias sells out Yoshi’s

The Seductress from Sao Paulo left few if any prisoners at Yoshi’s during her Friday night set, thoroughly making putty out of the audience with a voice that has propelled the 53-year-old Elias into international stardom.

The band, including husband bassist Marc Johnson, may have seemed worn out, maybe even burned out, for much of the 90-minute set. The technical problems bordered on the comical, as we all had to suffer through an out-of-whack sound-mix and, for several minutes, a voice mic that was missing in action. And the whole feel of the show seemed gimmicky, with large swaths of uninspired improvisation.

But that didn’t stop everyone from falling in love with Elias, a big-hearted big blonde of a balladeer.

And what clenched the deal was that voice. Because it’s a voice that can reach out into the shadows, caress you, comfort you and darn near break your heart.

Elias moved methodically, almost by rote, through a ten-pack of songs, several of them off her new album, I Thought About You (A Tribute to Chet Baker). And the crowd seemed to grow more adoring with each tune, especially the ones that featured that voice.

There was the cover song, slow and silky, as Elias held the room with spot-on phrasing that left you hungry for more. There was Everything Depends on You, which she laid out in a tight slow blues, singing softly as a little girl might sing to herself while she daydreamed. And there were just enough Brazilian tunes to please those in the crowd who prefer that luscious flank in Elias’ repertoire.

While Elias engaged is some silly back-and-forth banter with the audience, she didn’t bother to introduce her bandmates, rounded out by electric-guitarist Steve Cardenas and Mauricio Zottarelli on drums, until the show was almost over.

But no matter. The audience jumped to their feet as the musicians took their final bow and then, with almost a shrug of their shoulders, came back for an encore, sending everyone happily home with a hot version of So Danco Samba.